Programmatic ingestion and zoned cable delivery of linear tv in ad auction environments

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is delivering and closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV, assembling past measured viewership data within a zone for a TV spot in a program, by aggregating records and augmenting aggregated logs with viewers&#39; demographic data. This includes running an automated auction for advertising, at five minutes or less before airtime, announcing the spot, providing the past viewership data augmented with demographic data, with bids accepted for a rate, accepting and selecting a winning bid, provisioning an ad corresponding to the winning bid rate for an operator to deliver to the zone, after selecting the bid and before the airtime. After airing the ad, included is processing collected delivery logs within ten minutes of receipt, calculating current measured viewership during the spot, calculating an extended price, and reporting to a winning bidder the extended price, within six hours of airing the ad.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/877,453 titled “Programmatic Ingestion and Zoned Cable Delivery ofLinear TV in Ad Auction Environments,” filed 18 May 2020, now U.S. Pat.No. 11,599,914, issued 7 Mar. 2023 (Atty Docket No. MEFE 1006-1).

INCORPORATIONS

The following materials, SCTE 130-1 2013: Digital ProgramInsertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part 1—Overview; SCTE 130-22014: Digital Program Insertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part2—Core Data Elements; SCTE 130-3 2013: Digital ProgramInsertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part 3—Ad Management Service(ADM) Interface; SCTE 130-4 2015: Digital Program Insertion—AdvertisingSystems Interfaces Part 4—Content Information Service; SCTE 130-5 2016:Digital Program Insertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part5—Placement Opportunity Information Service; and SCTE 130-6 2013:Digital Program Insertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part6—Subscriber Information Service are incorporated by reference for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSED

The technology disclosed relates generally to systems and methods forpreparing advertising for insertion in entertainment content deliveredby broadcast cable providers, including systems and methods compatiblewith versions SCTE 130 in effect in July 2019. The disclosed technologyimplements formatting and uploading ads (aka creative content) to acontent information system operated by or on behalf of a broadcast cableprovider, coupled with processing placement requests. The technologydisclosed is so much faster and better integrated and streamlined thanprior SCTE 130 systems that it can ingest, format and upload new contentafter a successful real time bid for placement, in time for showing atthe specified ad slot in the entertainment content being delivered bythe cable content that triggered the placement request.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in this section should not be assumed to beprior art merely as a result of its mention in this section. Similarly,a problem mentioned in this section or associated with the subjectmatter provided as background should not be assumed to have beenpreviously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in thissection merely represents different approaches, which in and ofthemselves can also correspond to implementations of the claimedtechnology.

Content distributors want to maximize the value of the ad inventory theysell. Retargeting, also referred to as remarketing, is an early exampleof addressable marketing in the digital space. With the help ofaddressable advertising, advertisers can move beyond large-scaletraditional TV ad buys, to focus on relevance and impact.

SCTE-130 is a standard from the Society of Cable TelecommunicationsEngineers (SCTE) for a unified platform framework for addressableadvertising. The SCTE-130 standard consists of a set of XML-basedprotocols which will work in traditional cable deployments such as setupboxes, for linear programming. SCTE-130 defines the framework forpicking, on the fly, which ad, of which length, to splice into a TVshow.

An opportunity arises to streamline use of the SCTE 130 framework fordelivering and closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cabledelivery of linear TV.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to like partsthroughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarilyto scale, with an emphasis instead generally being placed uponillustrating the principles of the technology disclosed. In thefollowing description, various implementations of the technologydisclosed are described with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an architectural level schematic of a system for deliveringand closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery oflinear TV, according to one embodiment of the disclosed technology.

FIG. 2 shows an example block diagram for delivering and closing outviewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV.

FIG. 3A shows an example entry for a cable delivery zone log.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example AMS placement request from a broadcastcable provider for ad insertion into a program, in ad definitioninterface format.

FIG. 3C shows a single impression pixel made available after the createdasset is delivered to the broadcast cable provider that plays the ad.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show an example metadata file in ADI format for acreative asset.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C, FIG. 5D and FIG. 5E list an example VMAP thatincludes multiple VASTs.

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a computer system thatcan be used for streamlining use of the SCTE 130 framework fordelivering and closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cabledelivery of linear TV, according to one embodiment of the disclosedtechnology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is made with reference to thefigures. Sample implementations are described to illustrate thetechnology disclosed, not to limit its scope, which is defined by theclaims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a variety ofequivalent variations on the description that follows.

The model of traditional linear television programming is for a scheduleof shows to be selected by the broadcaster and then viewed at a settime. In this model, the viewer cannot fast forward through theprogramming or choose to watch it at a later time. Linear TV, also knownas cable television, is the traditional form of TV that is offered byyour cable provider. Linear television requires the viewer to scrollthrough channels to find their desired television program. Each programis aired on a specific channel at a certain time of day or night.

Linear advertising refers to a systematic schedule in which ads aredesigned to run for a specific time on a particular medium. Linear TVadvertising targets demographics according to ratings and time of day.Advertisers pay for viewership based on the viewer ratings.Traditionally, actual viewership is estimated and not precise. Theviewer must tune in to a specific channel at an appointed time to watchcontent on a traditional TV and viewership location is unclear. Ratesare based on ratings and the ratings are based on estimates andprojections of potential viewership at a specific time traditionally.

As the nature of TV audiences keeps shifting, broadcaster advertisingneeds also shift. An important area for broadcasters to grow theircapabilities is with linear TV delivered to zones of users. Advertiserswant an ad service to deliver their ads in a way that increases sales. Abiddable sales channel for advertising can lead to an increase in demandfor programmatic advertising sales. Programmatic advertising is theautomated buying and selling of online advertising and it utilizestargeting tactics to segment audiences, using data, so that advertisersonly pay for ads delivered to the right people at the right time.Real-time bidding (RTB) refers to the buying and selling of online adimpressions through real-time auctions. RTB is a means by whichadvertising inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis, viareal time programmatic auction.

Events motivate the demand for a short lead time for delivering ads,such as a retailer placing ads for selling fans and air conditioningunits in response to an unseasonable heat wave or selling space heatersduring an unexpected cold snap. In another case, auto dealers want toclear out specific inventory at the end of the month. In a thirdexample, unexpected disease outbreaks or unexplained deaths can motivatethe need for just-in-time advertising such as opportunistic tourismpromotion, responsive to negative publicity about competingdestinations.

The disclosed technology for delivering and closing out viewershippriced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV enables the deliveryof targeted ads to zones of viewers, programmatically determining whatads to serve in near real time instead of existing technologies thatcreate a schedule of ads the day before, or even longer before the adsare to be delivered to viewers. A targeted zone includes thousands ofhouseholds typically. The disclosed zoned cable delivery of linear TV isserved on the headend, delivering viewership priced targeted ads. Thecable television headend is the master distribution center for receivingtelevision signals for processing and distribution over a cabletelevision system, where incoming television signals from video sourcesare received, amplified, and re-modulated onto TV channels fortransmission down the cable television system for distribution to alocal region. By serving at the headend, the ad stream can be changedfrom the national or regional stream to a separate ad stream that showsthe targeted ads.

Multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) deliver to viewers awide variety of TV channels. MVPD are also referred to as cable orsatellite or fiber optic system (FiOS) TV service, with examples such asComcast, DirecTV, DISH, Cox Communications and Frontier. Each MVPDallows access to different data. The decision of how many impressions tobe served is based on logs.

The disclosed technology accesses actual data, from cable delivery zonelogs collected by the cable system operator corresponding to the linearTV spot, that reflect the viewership of served ads, yielding measuredviewership during the linear TV spot that is close to 100% accurate andavailable within hours of the ads having been served. After delivering acreated asset to the broadcast cable provider that plays the ad, asingle impression pixel is logged that represents everyone watching thatvideo on that channel at that time.

The disclosed technology enables near real time programmatic advertisingsales for customer premise equipment (CPE) delivered by MVPD. Bystreamlining use of the SCTE 130 framework for delivery of advertising,MVPD can execute dynamic ad insertion in real-time, enabling advertisersto buy audiences instead of programs. The disclosed technology withdelegated campaign management enables the buying and targeting ofadvertising to specific zones of viewers of linear TV. The disclosedtechnology can also enable the collection of sampled information foraudiences of programmatically placed ad content.

An example system for delivering and closing out viewership priced spotsin zoned cable delivery of linear TV is described next.

Architecture

FIG. 1 shows an architectural level schematic of a system 100 fordelivering and closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cabledelivery of linear TV. Because FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram,certain details are intentionally omitted to improve clarity of thedescription. The discussion of FIG. 1 will be organized as follows.First, the elements of the figure will be described, followed by theirinterconnections. Then, the use of the elements in the system will bedescribed in greater detail.

System 100 includes broadcast cable provider 105 such as Comcast,DirecTV, DISH, Cox Communications and Frontier, campaign managementdelegate system 112, household demographics service 128, ad provider148, ad repository 182 and optionally, user computing device 176.Broadcast cable provider 105 operates content information service (CIS)115 that manages metadata that describes the available assets, bothadvertising and entertainment, for the provider. CIS 115 allows queryingof content and its existence. In one example, a CIS query can requestthe content belonging to a particular content provider. In another queryexample, CIS can request the content from the content distributor, videoserver, etc. Broadcast cable provider 105 operates placement opportunityinformation service (POIS) 116 that manages the descriptions ofplacement opportunities in the entertainment assets, including formatsand ad maps, and specifies ownership of positions. Two parts of SCTE 130specify protocols for CIS 115: SCTE 130-4 2011: Digital ProgramInsertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part 4—Content InformationService and POIS 116: SCTE 130-5 2010: Digital ProgramInsertion—Advertising Systems Interfaces Part 5—Placement OpportunityInformation Service. These two SCTE 130 protocols are incorporatedherein in full by reference. More than one broadcast cable provider 105can make use of the disclosed streamlining use of the SCTE 130 frameworkfor delivery of advertising, in some implementations.

Continuing the description of system 100, broadcast cable provider 105stores subscriber account information 118 with audience and subscriberaccount names and identifiers of their customers. Broadcast cableprovider 105 also collects and aggregates zone delivery logs 114 withevent driven lists of viewing audience data, mapped to households anddevice identifiers for their customers. Continuing further with thedescription of the system, household demographics service 128 capturescable TV viewership data 138 with demographic segmentation, along withaudience qualities. Any example demographic segment can be soccer momsor football viewing fans. Example demographic services include AcxiomBig Data and Experian Data Service. Portions of the captured demographicsegmentation data, for the viewer and households identified in thedelivery zone logs, augment the data in the aggregated zone deliverylogs. That is, past viewership data is augmented with the demographicdata.

Another element of system 100, campaign management delegate system 112utilizes ad decision service (ADS) 122 that determines how to place theads. Campaign management delegate system 112 also utilizes video encoder132 that formats new content and ad server 142 that runs an automatedauction for advertising in an identified linear TV spot. Ad server 142announces the linear TV spot and can run the automated auction at a timeof five minutes or less before airtime for the linear TV spot. Ad server142 provides past measured viewership data augmented with thedemographic data to the bidders and sets a deadline for bidding. Adserver 142 selects a winning bid for the linear TV spot, for a rate thatwill be applied to the measured viewership during the spot, andprovisions the ad corresponding to the winning bid for a cable systemoperator to deliver to the cable delivery zone before the airtime forthe linear TV spot. Ad server 142 accepts new content provided by asuccessful bidder, responsive to the placement request and bidding,determining what advertising content needs to be included with theprogram, in relation to time of day and type of content and inconsideration of broadcast cable provider metadata, which includesadvertising needs such as subscriber data and ad break setup forspecific content. Service provider metadata typically includes thetiming for each break in the entertainment, how many breaks areavailable and what type and how many ads are allowed in each break. Adserver 142 generates the video multiple ad playlist (VMAP) response withthe results of the auction. Video encoder 132 automatically formats thenew content, encoding selected ads in standard definition (SD) formatand HD format with 1080p resolution. In another implementation, adifferent encoding format could be utilized to match an emergingtechnology that requires an additional video resolution. Ad server 142looks up, in campaign management metadata 172, using the ad definitioninterface (ADI) metadata for the entertainment asset, typically a TVshow or movie, to determine whether an ad asset is ready to serve tobroadcast cable provider 105. Campaign management delegate system 112also utilizes upload service 152, FTP service 162 and campaignmanagement metadata 172. Upload service 152 uploads a VMAP to broadcastcable provider 105 and FTP service 162 sends the creative asset videofile, the ad, to broadcast cable provider 105 in time for playback withcontent that prompted the placement request.

Further describing system 100, ad provider 148 includes ad datamanagement 158 which originates messages articulating ad insertion, alsoreferred to as ad placement, opportunities. Ad repository 182 storescampaign inventory, also referred to as creatives, for use by campaignmanagement delegate system 112 to respond to placement requests bybroadcast cable provider 105. Ad provider 148 can represent multipledifferent ad organizations that own ads and want to buy opportunities toair their ads during entertainment content delivered for zoned cabledelivery. Ad data management 158 queries ADS 122 to determine what adsare appropriate to place inside the content. System 100 also includesnetwork(s) 155 and user computing device 176 that includes a userinterface for viewing previews in a creative review system.

In the interconnection of the elements of system 100, network 155couples broadcast cable provider 105, campaign management delegatesystem 112, demographics service 128 and ad provider 148 incommunication, along with user computing device 176 and ad repository182. The communication path can be point-to-point over public and/orprivate networks. Communication can occur over a variety of networks,e.g. private networks, VPN, MPLS circuit, or Internet, and can useappropriate application program interfaces (APIs) and data interchangeformats, typically XML. This communication is generally over a networksuch as the LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network), telephonenetwork (Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), Session InitiationProtocol (SIP), wireless network, point-to-point network, star network,token ring network, hub network, Internet, inclusive of the mobileInternet, via protocols such as EDGE, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX.

Campaign management metadata 172 stores metadata information from one ormore broadcast cable providers and one or more ad providers into tablesof a common database image to form an on-demand database service (ODDS),which can be implemented in many ways, such as a multi-tenant databasesystem (MTDS). A database image can include one or more databaseobjects. In other implementations, the databases can be relationaldatabase management systems (RDBMSs), object-oriented databasemanagement systems (OODBMSs), distributed file systems (DFS), no-schemadatabase, or any other data storing systems or computing devices. Insome implementations, the gathered metadata is processed and/ornormalized. In some instances, metadata includes structured data andfunctionality targets specific data constructs. The assembled metadatacan be stored in a semi-structured data format like JSON (JavaScriptOption Notation), BSON (Binary JSON), XML, Protobuf, Avro or Thriftobject, which consists of string fields (or columns) and correspondingvalues of potentially different types like numbers, strings, arrays,objects, etc. JSON objects can be nested and the fields can bemulti-valued, e.g., arrays, nested arrays, etc., in otherimplementations. Ad repository 182 utilizes Amazon Simple StorageService (S3), an object storage service, in one implementation. Adifferent storage service can be used to store video creatives in adifferent implementation.

The components of FIG. 1 are implemented by software running on varyingtypes of computing devices. Example devices are a workstation, a server,a computing cluster, a blade server, and a server farm, or any otherdata processing system or computing device. The broadcast cable provider105, campaign management delegate system 112 and ad provider 148 can becommunicably coupled to the databases via a different networkconnection. For example, broadcast cable provider 105 can be coupled vianetwork(s) 155 (that is, the Internet) and campaign management delegatesystem 112 can be coupled to ad repository 182 via a direct networklink.

Moreover, this technology can be implemented using two or more separateand distinct computer-implemented systems that cooperate and communicatewith one another. This technology can be implemented in numerous ways,including as a process, a method, an apparatus, a system, a device, acomputer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium thatstores computer readable instructions or computer program code, or as acomputer program product comprising a computer usable medium having acomputer readable program code embodied therein. The technologydisclosed can be implemented in the context of any computer-implementedsystem including a database system or a relational databaseimplementation like an Oracle™ compatible database implementation, anIBM DB2 Enterprise Server™ compatible relational databaseimplementation, a MySQL™ or PostgreSQL™ compatible relational databaseimplementation or a Microsoft SQL Server™ compatible relational databaseimplementation or a NoSQL non-relational database implementation such asa Vampire™ compatible non-relational database implementation, an ApacheCassandra™ compatible non-relational database implementation, aBigtable™ compatible non-relational database implementation or an HBase™or DynamoDB™ compatible non-relational database implementation.

While system 100 is described herein with reference to particularblocks, it is to be understood that the blocks are defined forconvenience of description and are not intended to require a particularphysical arrangement of component parts. Further, the blocks need notcorrespond to physically distinct components. To the extent thatphysically distinct components are used, connections between componentscan be wired and/or wireless as desired. The different elements orcomponents can be combined into single software modules and multiplesoftware modules can run on the same hardware.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling86% of online advertising in the United States. A video ad servingtemplate (VAST) is a template for structuring ad tags that serve ads,using an XML schema to transfer the metadata about an ad from an adserver to a media player. The IAB digital video multiple ad playlist(VMAP) is an XML template that video content owners and ad networks canuse to schedule multiple ad insertions from a single tag. A VMAP is acollection of VASTs that video content owners use to describe thestructure for ad inventory insertion, usable for real-time bidding(RTB). That is, the VMAP can be utilized to describe the structure forad inventory insertion for regularly scheduled programming. VMAP definesthe ad breaks within content, including the timing for each break, howmany breaks are available, and what type of ads and how many are allowedin each break.

FIG. 2 shows an example block diagram for delivering and closing outviewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV. Auctionengine 202 assembles viewership data and runs an automated auction justbefore airtime for the liner TV spot, at a time of five minutes or lessbefore airtime for the linear TV spot, including announcing the linearTV spot, providing the past measured viewership data augmented with thedemographic data, and setting a deadline for bidding, with bids acceptedfor a rate that will be applied to measured viewership during the linearTV spot. Airing ads 205 utilizes broadcast cable provider 105 for airingthe selected ad. After the ad airs, processing engine 208 accesses andprocesses the cable zone delivery logs 114.

Auction engine 202 utilizes ad server 142 that looks up the metadata forthe entertainment asset in campaign management metadata 172 and uses thedata for targeting a programmatic auction, also referred to as adbidding, to match the entertainment. Ad bidding considerations includethe status of ads that will potentially fill an ad slot. Aggregationengine 252 aggregates records in cable delivery zone logs 114 andassembles past measured cable viewership data 138 within a cabledelivery zone for a linear TV spot, in a linear TV program, augmentingselected portions of the aggregated logs with demographic data forviewers or households identified in delivery zone logs 114. MVPD logdata is non-standard; that is, the log data schema is unique to eachbroadcast cable provider 105. In one example, delivery zone logs 114include the timing for each break in the entertainment, how many breaksare available and what type and how many ads are allowed in each break.An example set of fields that describe an entertainment asset in adelivery zone log is listed next.

Household Identifier Device Identifier Device Type Action (startedwatching, stopped watching, changed channel/program) Action DurationAction Timestamp Timezone/Zipcode/Country Source (Video On Demand,Linear) Network ID Channel ID Entertainment Asset ID

Ad server 142 conducts near real time bidding for ad insertion during aprogram, also referred to as non-advertising content, as describedearlier. The real time auction determines the “winning” creative from atleast one ad buyer, taking into account genre of the entertainment,cable viewership data 138, ratings, targeting, etc. Ad server 142accepts bids and selects a winning bid for the linear TV spot, andprovisions an ad corresponding to the winning bid for a cable systemoperator to deliver to the cable delivery zone, after selecting thewinning bid and before the airtime for the linear TV spot. Previouslynegotiated contracts “guarantee” that if a guaranteed contract holderbids for a particular ad slot, they are awarded a first look—any timethey bid they get to place their ad in that slot. Preferred ad suppliersbid among themselves if no guaranteed ad has “won” the slot. Ads from a‘guaranteed’ ad campaign are not required to outbid bidders in a‘preferred’ bidding category. Backfill ads from the MVPD are added tothe VMAP in cases in which no ad is returned by guaranteed or preferredbidders, to ensure that all ad slots are filled.

Campaign management delegate system 112 accepts the new content providedby a successful bidder, responsive to the placement request. Protocolfor communication between ADM 158 and ADS 122 is described in detail inSCTE 130-3 2013: Digital Program Insertion—Advertising SystemsInterfaces Part 3—Ad Management Service (ADM) Interface, which isincorporated herein in full, by reference. For the case in which an adis not ready to deliver, ad decision service 122 polls the ad statusstored in campaign management metadata 172. If the ad is not yet stored,campaign management delegate system 112 creates and adds a record tocampaign management metadata 172. Ad encoder 132 encodes the ad andstores the encoded ad in ad repository 182, updates the status of the adto “encoded” and stores the ad repository 182 location of the ad incampaign management metadata 172 so that the ad can be aired in asubsequent linear TV spot. The VMAP and encoded SD/HD video are madeavailable for upload. When the ad is ready for delivery, campaignmanagement delegate system 112 serves the ad and VMAP to broadcast cableprovider 105. FTP service 162 sends the ADI for the file and the SD/HDvideo to broadcast cable provider 105, which ingests the ad. Broadcastcable provider 105 distributes the ad and VMAP within their system andupdates the ADI to reflect the ingest status, marking the ad as active,also referred to as “hot”, so ready to be delivered for viewing in realtime. Campaign management delegate system 112 captures the status of theupdated ADI and updates campaign management metadata 172.

Continuing the description of the block diagram of FIG. 2 , airing ads205 features campaign management delegate system 112 responding to theplacement request with a placement response that includes reference tothe new content. The ad placement is specified in VAST files in VMAPstructure for delivery to the MVPD. Broadcast cable provider 105 storesaudience history that reflects the viewership for the aired ad, in zonedelivery logs 114 with event driven lists of viewing audience data,mapped to households and device identifiers for customers. If a futurerequest from the MVPD for an ad matches the updated ADI for thecreative, the ad can be served in real time. That is, the ad has beenencoded and is available in both ad repository 182 and in the system ofbroadcast cable provider 105, so can be served in real time.

Further continuing the description of the block diagram of FIG. 2 ,processing engine 208 accesses the cable delivery zone logs 114collected by the cable system operator corresponding to the linear TVspot, after airing of the ad, and processes the logs within ten minutesof receiving the logs for the linear TV spot. After delivering a createdasset to the broadcast cable provider that plays the ad, a singleimpression pixel is logged that represents everyone watching that videoon that channel at that time Impression pixel data for an ad that hasbeen viewed features the fields listed next, in one example case.

Advertisement Identifier Network Channel Entertainment Asset IDTimestamp Total Audience Size Audience Segments Audience Segment SizesMVPD Name Ad Price

Measured viewership calculator 248 extracts the current measuredviewership also referred to as the total audience size during the linearTV spot, and price calculator 258 calculates an extended ad price forthe linear TV spot, based on the measured viewership during the linearTV spot and the rate for the winning bid. Price reporting engine 268reports to a winning bidder the extended price, within six hours of theairing of the ad.

In a first use case, in response to a placement request from the MVPD,campaign management delegate system 112 receives the request and runs anautomated auction for advertising in the linear TV spot, at a time offive minutes or less before airtime for the linear TV spot, includingannouncing the linear TV spot, providing the past measured viewershipdata augmented with the demographic data, and setting a deadline forbidding. The bids are accepted for a rate that will be applied tomeasured viewership during the linear TV spot. The disclosed systemaccepts bids and selects a winning bid for the linear TV spot, andprovisions an ad corresponding to the winning bid rate for a cablesystem operator to deliver to the cable delivery zone, after selectingthe winning bid and before the airtime for the linear TV spot.Provisioning includes formatting and uploading the new content in timefor playback with the entertainment content. Most real time programmaticplacements occur within three minutes, with five to ten minutes possiblyrequired for uploading higher resolution, larger video files—such as arare, very long ad with a length of 45 seconds to a minute. Any of thesetimes is substantially shorter than what is required for existingsystems. After airing of the ad, the disclosed system accesses the zonedelivery logs 114 collected by the broadcast cable provider 105corresponding to the linear TV spot, and processes the logs within tenminutes of receiving the logs for the linear TV spot, calculatingcurrent measured viewership during the linear TV spot, and calculatingan extended price for the linear TV spot, based on the measuredviewership during the linear TV spot and the rate for the winning bid.The system reports to a winning bidder the extended price, within sixhours of the airing of the ad.

In a second use case, ad content is received and prepared by campaignmanagement delegate system 112 from a prospective bidder, inanticipation of the prospective bidding on a placement request from abroadcast cable provider. When a placement request is received from thebroadcast cable provider, campaign management delegate system 112conducts real time bidding for ad insertion during a program describedin the placement request, identifies the prospective bidder assuccessful and automatically uploads the bidder's new content to thebroadcast cable provider.

In a third use case, ad content is received, prepared and uploaded bycampaign management delegate system 112 from a prospective bidder, inanticipation of the prospective bidding on a placement request from abroadcast cable provider. Campaign management delegate system 112responds to a received placement request from the broadcast cableprovider by conducting real time bidding for ad insertion and identifiesa successful bidder, and sends a placement response that includesreference to the new content from the bidder.

FIG. 3A shows an example entry for a cable delivery zone log, forbroadcast 314 source type, on channel ID 50469 316.

FIG. 3B shows an example AMS placement request 342 from a broadcastcable provider 105 for ad insertion into a program. The placementrequest includes fields for specifying ad slot time 344 and ad breaklength 346, as well as fields for zone 348 to specify viewer region andnetwork id 352, number of slots 354 for total ads allowed and ad lengthfield 356 for ad duration restriction specification.

FIG. 3C shows a single impression pixel made available after the createdasset is delivered to the broadcast cable provider that plays the ad.Entertainment asset ABC123 366 with Ad ID 12 368 represents the actualaudience size of 13,400 376 who watched that video on that channel atthat time.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show an example metadata file in ADI format for acreative asset 404. The asset metadata file features fields for theasset name 414 and asset ID 425, and lists the features of the creative,including that the ad is available in both HD and SD formats 428, andwas created by CCH Creative 446, ad creation agency. The ad has a Grating 434 and is in the field of help and services 456.

FIGS. 5A-5E list an example video multiple ad playlist (VMAP) of videoad serving templates (VAST). The schema for recording the impressions islisted in lines 12 through 17 of the VAST 542. VMAP 504 includesmultiple VASTs called out in line 5 514 for ad ID “21252” and code line86 543 for ad ID “21242”. Information is included in the VMAP for thecreatives, including duration of a creative 564. Lines 53 and 57 specifyresolutions associated with assets 568. Lines 69 and 76 specify timeoffsets 538 associated with ad breaks.

Computer System

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a computer system 600 that canbe used for streamlining use of Society of Cable TelecommunicationsEngineers (SCTE) 130 framework for delivering and closing out viewershippriced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV. Computer system 600includes at least one central processing unit (CPU) 672 thatcommunicates with a number of peripheral devices via bus subsystem 655,for providing real time advertising services described herein. Theseperipheral devices can include a storage subsystem 610 including, forexample, memory devices and a file storage subsystem 636, user interfaceinput devices 638, user interface output devices 676, and a networkinterface subsystem 674 that connects to broadcast cable provider 105.The input and output devices allow user interaction with computer system600. Network interface subsystem 674 provides an interface to outsidenetworks, including an interface to corresponding interface devices inother computer systems.

In one implementation, campaign management delegate system 112 of FIG. 1is communicably linked to the storage subsystem 610 and the userinterface input devices 638.

User interface input devices 638 can include a keyboard; pointingdevices such as a mouse, trackball, touchpad, or graphics tablet; ascanner; a touch screen incorporated into the display; audio inputdevices such as voice recognition systems and microphones; and othertypes of input devices. In general, use of the term “input device” isintended to include all possible types of devices and ways to inputinformation into computer system 600.

User interface output devices 676 can include a display subsystem, aprinter, a fax machine, or non-visual displays such as audio outputdevices. The display subsystem can include an LED display, a cathode raytube (CRT), a flat-panel device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD),a projection device, or some other mechanism for creating a visibleimage. The display subsystem can also provide a non-visual display suchas audio output devices. In general, use of the term “output device” isintended to include all possible types of devices and ways to outputinformation from computer system 600 to the user or to another machineor computer system.

Storage subsystem 610 stores programming and data constructs thatprovide the functionality of some or all of the modules and methodsdescribed herein. Subsystem 678 can be graphics processing units (GPUs)or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

Memory subsystem 622 used in the storage subsystem 610 can include anumber of memories including a main random access memory (RAM) 632 forstorage of instructions and data during program execution and a readonly memory (ROM) 634 in which fixed instructions are stored. A filestorage subsystem 636 can provide persistent storage for program anddata files, and can include a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive alongwith associated removable media, a CD-ROM drive, an optical drive, orremovable media cartridges. The modules implementing the functionalityof certain implementations can be stored by file storage subsystem 636in the storage subsystem 610, or in other machines accessible by theprocessor.

Bus subsystem 655 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 600 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 655 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative implementations of the bus subsystem can usemultiple busses.

Computer system 600 itself can be of varying types including a personalcomputer, a portable computer, a workstation, a computer terminal, anetwork computer, a television, a mainframe, a server farm, awidely-distributed set of loosely networked computers, or any other dataprocessing system or user device. Due to the ever-changing nature ofcomputers and networks, the description of computer system 600 depictedin FIG. 6 is intended only as a specific example for purposes ofillustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention. Manyother configurations of computer system 600 are possible having more orless components than the computer system depicted in FIG. 6 .

Particular Implementations

Some particular implementations and features for streamlining use ofSociety of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 130 framework fordelivering and closing out viewership priced spots in zoned cabledelivery of linear TV are described in the following discussion.

In one disclosed implementation, a method for delivering and closing outviewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV, includesassembling past measured viewership data within a cable delivery zonefor a linear TV spot, in a linear TV program, by aggregating records ina cable delivery zone log and augmenting at least selected portions ofthe aggregated logs with demographic data for viewers or householdsidentified in the delivery zone logs. The disclosed method also includesrunning an automated auction for advertising in the linear TV spot, at atime of five minutes or less before airtime for the linear TV spot,including announcing the linear TV spot, providing the past measuredviewership data augmented with the demographic data, and setting adeadline for bidding, wherein bids are accepted for a rate that will beapplied to measured viewership during the linear TV spot. The methodfurther includes accepting bids and selecting a winning bid for thelinear TV spot, provisioning an ad corresponding to the winning bid fora cable system operator to deliver to the cable delivery zone, afterselecting the winning bid and before the airtime for the linear TV spot,and after airing of the ad, accessing the cable delivery zone logscollected by the cable system operator corresponding to the linear TVspot. The disclosed method also includes processing the logs within tenminutes of receiving the logs for the linear TV spot, calculatingcurrent measured viewership during the linear TV spot, and calculatingan extended price for the linear TV spot, based on the measuredviewership during the linear TV spot and the rate for the winning bidand reporting to a winning bidder the extended price, within six hoursof the airing of the ad.

The system described in this section and other sections of thetechnology disclosed can include one or more of the following featuresand/or features described in connection with additional systemsdisclosed. In the interest of conciseness, the combinations of featuresdisclosed in this application are not individually enumerated and arenot repeated with each base set of features. The reader will understandhow features identified in this method can readily be combined with setsof base features identified as implementations.

Some implementations of the method further include running the automatedauction within five seconds of the airtime for the linear TV spot andkeeping the auction open for one second or less. Some implementations ofthe method also further include receiving a most favorable bidcorresponding to an ad not yet loaded, automatically loading the ad andreadying it to air in a subsequent linear TV spot, and selecting as thewinning bid another bid corresponding to an already loaded ad for airingin the linear TV spot.

In one implementation of the method, the past measured viewershipincludes data for a prior day. In another implementation, the pastmeasured viewership includes data distributed over at least a priorweek. In yet another case, the past measured viewership includes datadistributed over at least a prior month. For some implementations of thedisclosed method, for a seasonally or event-impacted linear TV spot,measured viewership for an equivalent past seasonally or event-impactedlinear TV spot and the past measured viewership data distributed over atleast a month.

Other implementations of the disclosed technology described in thissection include a tangible non-transitory computer readable storagemedia loaded with program instructions that, when executed on one ormore processors, are configurable for delivering and closing outviewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV. Yetanother implementation of the disclosed technology described in thissection can include a computer implemented system including a processor,memory coupled to the processor and the computer instructions from thenon-transitory computer readable storage media loaded into the memory,to perform any of the methods described above.

The preceding description is presented to enable the making and use ofthe technology disclosed. Various modifications to the disclosedimplementations will be apparent, and the general principles definedherein may be applied to other implementations and applications withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the technology disclosed. Thus,the technology disclosed is not intended to be limited to theimplementations shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the principles and features disclosed herein. The scope of thetechnology disclosed is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, compatible with SCTE-130, fordelivering viewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV,including: a campaign management delegate system assembling from a cableprovider system past measured viewership data within a cable deliveryzone for a linear TV spot, in a linear TV program for viewers orhouseholds identified in delivery zone logs; the campaign managementdelegate system running an automated auction for advertising in thelinear TV spot, at a time of five minutes or less before airtime for thelinear TV spot, including announcing the linear TV spot, providing thepast measured viewership data, and setting a deadline for bidding; thecampaign management delegate system accepting bids from ad providersystems via an Ad Management Service (ADM) or other bidding component,and selecting a winning bid for the linear TV spot; and provisioning anad corresponding to the winning bid for a cable system operator todeliver to the cable delivery zone, after selecting the winning bid andbefore the airtime for the linear TV spot.
 2. The method of claim 1,further including providing, in addition to the past measured viewershipdata, demographic data for the viewers or households in the cabledelivery zone.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein bids are accepted at arate that will be applied to measured viewership during the linear TVspot.
 4. The method of claim 1, further including running the automatedauction within five seconds of the airtime for the linear TV spot andkeeping the auction open for one second or less.
 5. The method of claim1, further including receiving a most favorable bid corresponding to anad not yet loaded, automatically loading the ad and readying it to airin a subsequent linear TV spot, and selecting as the winning bid anotherbid corresponding to an already loaded ad for airing in the linear TVspot.
 6. The method of claim 1, further including in the past measuredviewership, data for a prior day.
 7. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding in the past measured viewership, data distributed over atleast a prior week.
 8. The method of claim 1, further including in thepast measured viewership, data distributed over at least a prior month.9. The method of claim 1, further including, for a seasonally orevent-impacted linear TV spot, measured viewership for an equivalentpast seasonally or event-impacted linear TV spot and the past measuredviewership data distributed over at least a month.
 10. A method,compatible with SCTE-130, for closing out viewership priced spots inzoned cable delivery of linear TV, including: selecting a winning bidfor a linear TV spot in a linear TV program for a cable delivery zone ata rate that will be applied to measured viewership during the linear TVspot; after airing of an ad by the cable provider system in the linearTV spot, accessing cable delivery zone logs collected by a cable systemoperator from consumer premises equipment in the cable delivery zonecorresponding to the linear TV spot; the campaign management delegatesystem processing the cable delivery zone logs within ten minutes ofreceiving the logs for the linear TV spot, calculating current measuredviewership during the linear TV spot, and calculating an extended pricefor the linear TV spot, based on the measured viewership during thelinear TV spot and the rate for the winning bid; and reporting to awinning bidder the extended price, within six hours of the airing of thead.
 11. The method of claim 10, further including the cable deliveryzone logs representing everyone who watched the linear TV spot in thelinear TV program for the cable delivery zone.
 12. The method of claim11, further including in the cable delivery zone longs impression pixelcodes that include fields for Advertisement Identifier, Network,Channel, Entertainment Asset ID, Timestamp, Total Audience Size,Audience Segments, Audience Segment Sizes, MVPD Name, and Ad Price. 13.A non-transitory computer readable medium loaded with programinstructions that, when executed on hardware, cause the hardware toimplement actions, compatible with SCTE-130, for delivering viewershippriced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV, the actionsincluding: a campaign management delegate system assembling from a cableprovider system past measured viewership data within a cable deliveryzone for a linear TV spot, in a linear TV program for viewers orhouseholds identified in delivery zone logs; the campaign managementdelegate system running an automated auction for advertising in thelinear TV spot, at a time of five minutes or less before airtime for thelinear TV spot, including announcing the linear TV spot, providing thepast measured viewership data, and setting a deadline for bidding; thecampaign management delegate system accepting bids from ad providersystems via an Ad Management Service (ADM) or other bidding component,and selecting a winning bid for the linear TV spot; and provisioning anad corresponding to the winning bid for a cable system operator todeliver to the cable delivery zone, after selecting the winning bid andbefore the airtime for the linear TV spot.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 13, further including providing, inaddition to the past measured viewership data, demographic data for theviewers or households in the cable delivery zone.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 14, wherein bids are accepted at arate that will be applied to measured viewership during the linear TVspot.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13,further including running the automated auction within five seconds ofthe airtime for the linear TV spot and keeping the auction open for onesecond or less.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim13, further including receiving a most favorable bid corresponding to anad not yet loaded, automatically loading the ad and readying it to airin a subsequent linear TV spot, and selecting as the winning bid anotherbid corresponding to an already loaded ad for airing in the linear TVspot.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13,further including, for a seasonally or event-impacted linear TV spot,measured viewership for an equivalent past seasonally or event-impactedlinear TV spot and the past measured viewership data distributed over atleast a month.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable medium loaded withprogram instructions that, when executed on hardware, cause the hardwareto implement actions, compatible with SCTE-130, for closing outviewership priced spots in zoned cable delivery of linear TV, theactions including: selecting a winning bid for a linear TV spot in alinear TV program for a cable delivery zone at a rate that will beapplied to measured viewership during the linear TV spot; after airingof an ad by the cable provider system in the linear TV spot, accessingcable delivery zone logs collected by a cable system operator fromconsumer premises equipment in the cable delivery zone corresponding tothe linear TV spot; the campaign management delegate system processingthe cable delivery zone logs within ten minutes of receiving the logsfor the linear TV spot, calculating current measured viewership duringthe linear TV spot, and calculating an extended price for the linear TVspot, based on the measured viewership during the linear TV spot and therate for the winning bid; and reporting to a winning bidder the extendedprice, within six hours of the airing of the ad.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 19, further including the cabledelivery zone logs representing everyone who watched the linear TV spotin the linear TV program for the cable delivery zone.
 21. A systemincluding hardware coupled to the non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim
 13. 22. A system including hardware coupled to thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19.